User:TikshoretSM/מנחם בומבך

Rabbi Menachem Bombach

Menachem Bombach (born 26 October, 1976) is a community leader and educational entrepreneur in Israel’s Haredi community, and founder and director of the Netzach Educational Network.

Menachem Bombach is a Viznitzer Chassid. He was educated in Viznitz schools and attended the Ahavat Yisrael Yeshiva and the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He completed a bachelor's degree in education at the Moreshet Yaakov Institute, and a master’s degree in public policy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He was principal of the “Le’Zion Be’Rinah” high school and directed the youth department of the Beitar Illit local authority. In 2013 he founded the preparatory program for Haredi students at the Hebrew University, and the Torah Academy Midrasha Chassidit for boys from Hassidic backgrounds. This was the first yeshiva high school for Hassidic boys in Israel that provides a comprehensive Torah education while preparing students for matriculation exams. This provoked communal opposition and personal attacks, including rabbinic proclamations against him, public demonstrations and damage to his home.[2] He then set up the “Netzach” Haredi educational network. As a change-maker in Israel’s Haredi community, he is an active mentor for a number of leadership training programs, including the Mandel Leadership Institute[3], the Maoz leadership network[4] and the Gesher Leaders program[5]. In September 2020, he was appointed as a member of the National Council for Public Libraries.

In April 2021, he was appointed a member of the National Committee for Research and Development in the field of promoting science and technology education.

He is regularly invited to participate in conversations in the Israeli media and overseas[6] about the Haredi community in Israel, and his blog for the Times of Israel was voted as one of the most significant blogs of the year in both 2020[7] and 2021[8].

Netzach Educational Network

The 'Netzach' Haredi educational network combines religious and secular studies, and aims to educate students to become observant Jews who are also prepared for academic study and gainful employment. Today the network includes 9 elementary and high schools in Beitar, Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem, a Chassidic kindergarten in Jerusalem, and an online school set up during the COVID pandemic to enable Haredi students to study secular subjects and apply to university.